FILE -- New York Mayor John Lindsay with Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" in New York, Aug. 29, 1966. A plan is in the works to bring NBC's "Tonight" back to New York from Burbank, Calif., with Jimmy Fallon as host, according to several senior television executives involved in the decision. (Don Hogan Charles/The New York Times)

Johnny Carson, who for 30 years was the king of late-night TV, allegedly had a secret mistress in Houston, according to a recent biography, "Johnny Carson," by Henry Bushkin.

Published in October, the book by Carson's long-time attorney includes a number of tales about the famous comedian's marital problems and mistresses.

Carson, famous for his affable manner and wry humor, was host of "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" from 1962 to 1992.

According to KHOU-TV, Carson inserted himself into a real estate investment Bushkin was working on near Willowbrook Mall in Houston, using it as an excuse to make trips to the Bayou City to visit a beautiful woman he called "Miss Texas."

Although he never revealed the woman's name, the affair lasted eight or nine years, Bushkin told KHOU.

The real estate deal went through a rough patch when the Texas economy tanked in the mid-1980s, and in 1988 the two men had a falling out.

Carson ended up owning the 93 acres and eventually made money on it, Bushkin told KHOU.

Another anecdote in the book was refuted by Carson's second wife, Joanne Copeland.

According to Bushkin, Carson asked the young attorney along in 1970 when he broke into Copeland's secret New York apartment because he thought she was having an affair with former football player and announcer Frank Gifford.

Bushkin claimed in the book that Carson was carrying a gun the night of the break-in.

But Copeland told the New York Post that, although she was friends with Gifford, which made Carson jealous, she never had an affair with him.

As for the weapon, Copeland said her ex-husband was terrified of guns and would never have carried one.

Carson, who was a heavy smoker, died of emphysema in 2005 at age 79, still married to his fourth wife.